Notes that marking student papers is a rhetorical act requiring audience awareness. Describes how thinking of paper-marking as a conversation can make the task both more enjoyable and more effective. (HTH)

In a composition course, interview assignments have four key virtues: (1) they are interesting in themselves; (2) they ease students into the demands of working with other people's ideas; (3) they offer a rationale for improving rhetorical skills; and (4) they allow students to experience adult, responsible roles in a social context. In addition,…